Insights into the Perth arts scene

Totally Huge New Music Festival

The highlight of August is the biennial Totally Huge New Music Festival. This year the festival is something of an extravaganza because it is running alongside the 2013 International Computer Music Conference which is being hosted in Perth. It is worth downloading the program yourself but here are some highlights I have picked out:

·Festival Opener Friday 9th The Bakery 8pm. Melbourne new music mavericks Speak Percussion make their THNMF return with a set paying homage to British nightclub music from the nineties. They are joined by Japanese sonic artist Hacoand avant-garde doom metal group Barn Owl.

·Michael Kieran Harvey Sunday 11th Government House Ballroom3pm.Australia’s most provocative and exciting pianist in a concert of solo piano music that includes his own Psychosonata.

·Club Huge 11th-15th The Bakery 9:30pm onwards: Drop in at the festival nightclub and unwind with music curated by Sam Gillies and featuring live laptop, ambient and beats artists.

·ICMC Concert Series Perth Cultural Centre various locations. Guitar, piano and cello interact with electronics in a series of three conference concerts. Surround Sound Events and Installations featuring electronic composers from around the world will also be in operation, the extensive program is available online.

·Latitude Series: 14th & 17th Astor Theatre, 8pm. The WA Symphony Orchestra present two hip concerts featuring music by local composers Jared Yapp and Lachlan Skipworth. Also a Radiohead-inspired piece by the popular Steve Reich and a concerto for electric violin by Nico Muhly.

·THNMF in Fremantle 17th & 18th Victoria Quay, 3pm. The heritage B Shed will resonate like never before in two free concerts by experimental music legend Alvin Curran. 35 musicians will perform the choreographed BEAMS and sampled ship sounds will fill the port in Maritime Rites.

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Give me words and music and I’m happy!
Rosalind is an arts journalist, author and speaker. She founded Noted in 2012 to cover the Perth arts scene. She is currently co-editor of Seesaw Magazine.
Check out the startling discoveries about Australian women composers in her book Women of Note which completes the missing jigsaw pieces of Australia’s music history.